On the day before Thanksgiving, Barack Obama carried out a long-time presidential tradition on the White House lawn when he "pardoned" two turkeys from the holiday dinner death penalty.

There were plenty of jokes to go around, as always, but I wasn't laughing.

It's not that I'm a vegetarian (although I respect those who are), or that I don't have a sense of humor.

My question, going back for many years under past presidents, is: How can we joke about exonerating turkeys while the death penalty continues for human beings?

I oppose the death penalty even for murderers who are unquestionably guilty, as readers should see via my sensitivity on the turkey pardons. Still, I realize most folks don't feel the same way. Some view capital punishment as a basic measure of justice, and some see the death penalty as a measure to deter others from committing homicide.

Okay, consider this: What if someone assigned to the gallows by a judge or a jury is later discovered to be innocent? It’s discovered more often nowadays with the modern gift of DNA evidence retrieval.

Some 141 U.S. prisoners on death row have been exonerated and freed since the late 20th century, reports the Death Penalty Information Center. Not merely pardoned, but exonerated. And those are only the cases in which advocates have launched investigations. Who knows how many were overlooked?

Considering all of the racial injustices and disparities that exist in the system, the following breakdown of the 141 should come as no surprise: 71 black, 56 white, 12 Latino, 2 "other."

Obama has said a crime should be terribly egregious to merit capital punishment, such as a mass murder or the killing of children. I’m dismayed he has done nothing federally to pursue reform. In the Illinois legislature, where crime and punishment are far bigger items than at the federal level, Obama in fact led the way to some major changes, such as videotaping police interviews and prisoner confessions, and boosting public defender representation. His leverage was bolstered when a Northwestern University professor and his students during the 1990s probed convictions and discovered several that were wrongful, leading Illinois to repeal its death penalty.

Illinois thus joined the ranks of 15 states that bar capital punishment, among which Michigan gratefully is a member. But then we have the killing mills such as Florida and Texas, where a combined 35 of those 141 wrongful death row convictions have been overturned.

Remember Troy Davis, executed by Georgia authorities in September 2011 despite overwhelming post-conviction evidence that he had not actually killed a cop? Obama said he couldn't intervene, but two months later he pardoned his annual pair of Thanksgiving turkeys.

Reforming capital punishment could be a vital first step toward overall change. The U.S. prison population of 2.3 million is the largest of any nation on the planet. One in every 100 adults is behind bars. For Latino men, it's 1 in 36. For black men, it's 1 in 15. This sort of throw-away-the-key mentality, or tradition, eventually grows into our ice-cold feelings regarding the ultimate criminal punishment of death.

Please, President Obama, we know you are overwhelmingly busy, but please don't be overwhelmed on this matter. You could reserve a day to make your statement, and then appoint somebody to carry the ball while you head back to the "fiscal cliff" and other day-to-day concerns. Something tells me Judge Greg Mathis, for example, might be an attention-grabber who would be up to the task.

How many men and women in those stats actually live on death row? Also what do u propose we just keep the guilty in the main population? Reform needs to be reform for those in the prison for lessor crimes. First step get control of the guards and stop abuse inside the walls give them something to set goals for on the outside. Then work on those on death row get a team to investigate each case in each state. Guilty then death not guilty then out and find the real guilty party. Don't let the real killers out

Reply

mike thompson

11/26/2012 02:50:19 pm

Carol, I'm the author and your question reflects a shortcoming in my writeup. I was just trying to reflect a top-down approach in what I (among others) describe as the criminal injustice system, with hopes that reforming capital punishment to start could lead us to overall change, and am certainly not advocating the freeing of killers, just life sentences instead of execution. This way, people found innocent after years wongly on death row at least can be freed, and still have a remaining life.

We also strive to one day cuddle with lions and giraffes. Until then, we’ll settle for furry rescue kitties and doggies.

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